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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23648437">River of Starlight</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlowQuotesQuill/pseuds/SlowQuotesQuill'>SlowQuotesQuill</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night &amp; Related Fandoms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 22:01:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,251</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23648437</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlowQuotesQuill/pseuds/SlowQuotesQuill</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“I shall take my comfort when I want, and where I want.”</p><p>“I guess that includes using my thigh as a personal cushion… while we’re on a boat drifting somewhere to the sea.”</p><p>Gilgamesh/Enkidu fluff, to warm your soul. Pre-Canon.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Enkidu | False Lancer/Gilgamesh | Archer/Gilgamesh | Caster</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>65</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>River of Starlight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired by Caster Gil's Valentine CE, Evening by the Euphrates.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>Within my distant memories that are quietly changing</em><br/>
<em>The proof of the time I spent with you is definitely here</em><br/>
<em>Because you told me your feelings that were gushing out</em><br/>
<em>Even when this world is gone, I’ll still be there with you</em>
  </p>
  <p><strong>Memoria</strong> // Eir Aoi</p>
</blockquote><p>Rocked by the gentle swaying of their boat, Enkidu privately thought that the Euphrates looked like a river of little lights beneath them as it matched the stunning evening sky over their heads, star by twinkling star.</p><p>He looked up from the river, to the huge shadow that was Uruk in the distance. The slumbering city provided a sharply ominous contrast from the dreamlike quality of the night. As their boat passed the shadowy city, Enkidu perched gracefully on the bow of the boat and gently scooped some of the sparkling river water to drink. He glanced over his shoulder, and raised his eyebrows at the sight of the golden figure frowning slightly at him from the back of the boat.</p><p>“Gil?”</p><p>“You’re going to fall into the water if you keep sitting there,” was the majestic reply. Enkidu laughed at Gilgamesh’s petulant tone.</p><p>“Contrary to appearances, I <em>do</em> know how to swim.” However, as if to placate Gilgamesh, Enkidu obediently left his precarious place on the front of the boat to sit beside his dearest friend, his bright hair flying behind him in the gentle breeze.</p><p>In the faint starlight, Gilgamesh’s bright hair had the gloss of the finest Babylonian wheat. He was still clad in his crimson royal garments, the traditional attire of the king during the New Year ceremonies, and heavy golden jewelry gleamed richly on his wrists and on his chest. A piece of lapis lazuli sat upon his forehead, its simplicity a stark contrast to the extravagance of his finery. “You don’t seem too comfortable,” Enkidu added, much more seriously, and Gilgamesh shifted in his seat.</p><p>“I am… not uncomfortable,” he finally replied. “Just…”</p><p>“Tired?” Enkidu carefully peered over the side of the boat, watching the small waves caused by the slice of their bow across the water.</p><p>“<em>Exhausted</em>. The New Year is always the most difficult of all festivities.” Gilgamesh stretched his neck with a weary sigh, and Enkidu watched the muscles of his pale throat ripple with slight interest. “To be honest, I am not sure what possessed you to take me here to the river, and what possessed me to accept such an unnecessary detour. I should be in my chambers right about now, perhaps enjoying a cup of wine before I retire for the night.”</p><p>“<em>The king is expected to appear in front of his citizenry and perform his religious duties until the dawn of the new year</em>,” Enkidu parroted Ninsun’s reminder to them yesterday with a singsong voice, and smiled. “Despite first impressions, it seems that you are still a dutiful ruler.”</p><p>“You are my dearest among fools, but a fool nonetheless. I have a duty to my mother, and to my father, and no more.” His tone one of chastisement, Gilgamesh turned away abruptly from Enkidu’s searching emerald eyes. Undeterred by the king’s abrasive tone, Enkidu reached out to touch a bangle on Gilgamesh’s wrist and gently unclasped it. It fell by their feet with a wooden thunk.</p><p>“Wha—” Gilgamesh was surprised (and not a little irritated) at his friend’s cavalier attitude toward the expensive accessory, but Enkidu was already undoing more clasps, and the sounds of metal hitting the bottom of the boat was both tumultuous and sacrilegious in the tranquility of the night. “You are duty-bound to be king,” Enkidu said with a grin, “but for this moment I am unloosing you from your golden bonds. You had barely any time to enjoy the festivities themselves since last night. Therefore, let us on this river celebrate the young year forward and hope that nothing untoward might befall your Uruk, and your divine self.”</p><p>From a basket he had kept hidden under the seat, Enkidu had produced an earthen jug of wine, flasks, and even bread and cheese. The fare was quite plain to Gilgamesh’s eyes, but after the richness of the foods he had partaken of throughout the day, the simplicity of the items that Enkidu had brought out was quite welcome. Deciding that Enkidu’s joyous expression was too irresistible to disappoint, Gilgamesh took off the rest of the bracelets on his other arm and took off his rich red coat to allow himself more freedom to sit beside Enkidu on the bottom of the boat, and eat.</p><p>The first sip of the sour wine was sharp and helped clear his mind. Before them, the calm river stretched out far to the horizon, its brilliance suggesting a road paved with the finest jewels made by heaven. Free of the heavy weights on his shoulders and arms, Gilgamesh allowed his eyes to wander and admire the beauty of the sight before them, and of the evening itself. Beside him, Enkidu nibbled at the food, also entranced by the marvelous Euphrates, his eyes bright, his long verdant locks wild and free and streaming behind him.</p><p>If only, Gilgamesh found himself thinking, he could only capture this night and store it in the safety of his treasury forever, to be revisited whenever he desired, he would have already done so.</p><p><em>But its impermanence is what makes it so alluring,</em> he added to himself, with a slightly bitter smile.</p><p>“I stole these from the kitchen on the way to get you,” Enkidu suddenly said with a sheepish look, gesturing at the food. Gilgamesh scoffed and broke a piece of bread from the loaf. He chewed the morsel thoughtfully, and licked his thumb when done. “Ama-Humusi’s bread is still as salty as ever”—wryly. </p><p>“We used to steal stuff from her kitchen all the time,” Enkidu laughed. “You’d think she’d learn to watch out for me during feasts like this.”</p><p>“Truly.” Gilgamesh scoffed, and then stuffed the rest of the bread in his mouth in a rather undignified sort of way, as if Enkidu’s words have turned the clock back on its head and they were younger once more, two teenagers stuffing themselves with precious loot stolen from under the Head Cook’s nose herself. “This taste… is nostalgic.”</p><p>“It seems like ages when we were young and still green.”</p><p>“It seems like ages when we slew the giant for sport.” Gilgamesh was wearing a wicked grin as he looked over the rim of his cup at Enkidu, as if remembering the bloodlust that drove him to hunt the creature down in the first place. His eyes were as hard as the starkly glittering ruby on his throat.</p><p>“Ages when you first donned that golden armor you had looted from him, either.”</p><p>Gilgamesh paused, then drained his cup once more. Enkidu immediately refilled it. “Ages when I had to use my treasury on you the first time.”</p><p>“We were young,” Enkidu repeated, almost wistfully.</p><p>“We’re not exactly infirm now, either.” Gilgamesh turned that wicked grin on him once more. Instinctively, Enkidu could feel his hairs stand on end at the feeling that washed over him from that look. “And we do occasionally fight like that every now and then.”</p><p>“Not now, please.” Enkidu laughed and gestured at the unsteady rocking of the boat. “I do know how to swim, but I do not wish to take an inopportune bath right now, thanks.”</p><p>Gilgamesh glanced at the red ceremonial robe he had discarded behind them, then back at Enkidu, and without a word, got up from his seat and tackled his friend with a growl that sounded almost like laughter. As if hit by a crashing wave, Enkidu can only yell in surprise as they flew out of the boat and into the cold waters of the river Euphrates below. The resulting splash of their intertwined bodies hitting the water was a cannon shot in the silence.</p><p>“You’re such a kid sometimes!” was Enkidu’s first words, hurled angrily, when he finally broke through the river’s surface and into the chilly air once more, hair plastered messily to his face. Treading water effortlessly, Gilgamesh was roaring with laughter, overjoyed at the success of his sneak attack.</p><p>“Fool, call it a royal fancy!” Gilgamesh’s silken white under-robe was now waterlogged and spotted and generally ruined—Enkidu can only imagine the fearful scolding they will get from Ninsun when they get home. However, as if the thought of his mother was nothing, the childish king can only laugh once more, his shoulders shaking at the sight of Enkidu cross and soaked to the bone.</p><p>“You—” It took more effort to launch oneself in the water, but Gilgamesh was also slower when submerged to his chin in freshwater, and the smaller and lighter Enkidu was able to move quickly enough to punch him roughly in the shoulder. “You’re always getting in trouble like <em>this</em>!”</p><p>“And you are always there to rein me in, are you not?”</p><p>The king’s childlike question was like a slap to the face.</p><p>Enkidu can only glare at Gilgamesh, who was slowly sobering up from whatever alcoholic madness possessed him to push them off the boat in the first place. His golden hair was dark with water. The lapis lazuli on his forehead, the symbol of the king’s divinity, was lost in the water somewhere during their unceremonious tumble into the river.</p><p>Around them, the Euphrates glowed. It was as if they were bathing in the light of the very stars themselves.</p><p>“Yes,” he said, shortly. Honestly.</p><p>Gilgamesh’s eyes had softened imperceptibly at the answer. They were now warm and quiet, but still fiery.</p><p>“Then everything is well, and I shall not come into further harm,” were his regal words. “And you will be by my side always, so it is impossible that danger will ever come to me.”</p><p>“It…” Enkidu can feel his face heat up at the unexpectedly affectionate words. “It’s freezing. Take us back to the boat, before I neglect to stay my hand and just drown you here for getting us into this in the first place.”</p><p>His friend’s lip curled in its usual smirk, and his hand broke the surface to reach out to Enkidu. Upon gripping it, Enkidu can feel the wrinkling starting to form on Gilgamesh’s fingers due to the prolonged soaking.</p><p>“You’re still you, after all,” he murmured, a bit thoughtfully.</p><p>“What is it?”—absently.</p><p>“Nothing,” Enkidu replied, a little too quickly, but Gilgamesh only gave him a weird look and pulled him along. They touched the boat at the same time, and Gilgamesh was quick to help him on the boat before easily getting in himself. Inside was a mess—the jug of wine had spilt on the floor, and the scattered bread and cheese were stained in it. Enkidu quickly pulled his dripping robe over his head and set it to the side, while Gilgamesh just stayed in his wet silks and sat on the floor, his expression inscrutable in the semi-darkness. Once his robe had been neatly spread over the side of the boat to dry, Enkidu turned to join Gilgamesh and sat beside him.</p><p>Gilgamesh’s shoulder felt cold and wet against his own.</p><p>“You’ll catch a cold dressed like that,” he scolded, and Gilgamesh snorted.</p><p>“I haven’t fallen to illness since I was a child,” was the haughty reply. “Ama used to say that it was my one good point back then.”</p><p>“You needn’t say that so proudly. She wasn’t complimenting you when she said that.”</p><p>“Hmph.”</p><p>“…Is your immunity also an effect of your Ama’s blood?”</p><p>“Perhaps.” Gilgamesh was staring at the horizon, his eyes vacant.</p><p>Comfortably, the silence stretched between them. Enkidu was about to open his mouth and say something to break it when he suddenly felt a gentle weight on his lap, and a subtle fragrance tickled his nostrils. He bowed his head to see Gilgamesh already using his lap as a pillow, his eyelids heavy and drooping. His damp golden hair felt softer than down against Enkidu’s knee, and drops of water trickled from the strands and rolled down his skin.</p><p>“Can you not hold on till we get back home? Your sleeping habits are like those of a child’s.”</p><p>“Silence,” Gilgamesh muttered sleepily. “Rejoice and be glad for this high honor that has been given unto you.”</p><p>“It is a heavy honor, my king.”</p><p>“Silence.”—peevishly. “I shall take my comfort when I want, and where I want.”</p><p>“I guess that includes using my thigh as a personal cushion… while we’re on a boat drifting somewhere to the sea.”</p><p>Gilgamesh’s half-opened eye finally slides closed. “…You really are unspeakably defiant…”</p><p>And his words slurred into silence, leaving Enkidu to watch his chest rising and falling like the currents of the Euphrates.</p><p>Enkidu smiled gently and stroked the hair off Gilgamesh’s forehead. The piece of lapis lazuli was still missing from its rightful place. Dimly, he added it to the list of things that Ninsun would scold them for upon their return. <em>Do you know how many generations that has been on the king’s brow?</em> “You are such a human sometimes, too,” he added in a whisper, sadly.</p><p>Gilgamesh murmured something in his sleep, something that perhaps only Enkidu can hear right now, and he laughed softly and leaned down to kiss his smooth forehead.</p><p>“May only good dreams be in your sleep tonight, Gil,” he said, and only the lapping of the water against the sides of the boat answered him back.</p>
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